Unlike Bobin's Onion-like story about Obama denying a role in government, this Onion-like story is unfortunately true.

A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit

WINDSOR, Ontario — Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.

And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it.

The company is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel.

The coke comes from a refinery alongside the river owned by Marathon Petroleum, which has been there since 1930. But it began refining exports from the Canadian oil sands — and producing the waste that is sold to Koch — only in November.

“What is really, really disturbing to me is how some companies treat the city of Detroit as a dumping ground,” said Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan state representative for that part of Detroit. “Nobody knew this was going to happen.” Almost 56 percent of Canada’s oil production is from the petroleum-soaked oil sands of northern Alberta, more than 2,000 miles north.

An initial refining process known as coking, which releases the oil from the tarlike bitumen in the oil sands, also leaves the petroleum coke, of which Canada has 79.8 million tons stockpiled. Some is dumped in open-pit oil sands mines and tailing ponds in Alberta. Much is just piled up there.

Detroit’s pile will not be the only one. Canada’s efforts to sell more products derived from oil sands to the United States, which include transporting it through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, have pulled more coking south to American refineries, creating more waste product here.

Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.

While there is high demand from both those industries, the small grains and high sulfur content of this petroleum coke make it largely unusable for those purposes, said Kerry Satterthwaite, a petroleum coke analyst at Roskill Information Services, a commodities analysis company based in London.

“It is worse than a byproduct,” Ms. Satterthwaite said.“It’s a waste byproduct that is costly and inconvenient to store, but effectively costs nothing to produce.”

Petroleum coke accounts for around 5 percent of all refinery output in the United States. The percentage has been fairly stable for the past 20 years, creeping slowly higher, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In 2012, U.S. refineries produced almost 850,000 barrels equivalent of pet coke every day, according to EIA. One metric tonne of petroleum coke is roughly 5.5 barrels.

Around 350,000 barrels per day was supplied to plants in the United States. Most of it is low-quality green coke, used in cement kilns, or mixed with coal and burned in power plants. Small quantities of high-quality needle coke are used to make anodes for electric arc furnaces used in steelmaking.

Petroleum coke accounts for around 5 percent of all refinery output in the United States. The percentage has been fairly stable for the past 20 years, creeping slowly higher, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In 2012, U.S. refineries produced almost 850,000 barrels equivalent of pet coke every day, according to EIA. One metric tonne of petroleum coke is roughly 5.5 barrels.

Around 350,000 barrels per day was supplied to plants in the United States. Most of it is low-quality green coke, used in cement kilns, or mixed with coal and burned in power plants. Small quantities of high-quality needle coke are used to make anodes for electric arc furnaces used in steelmaking.

There are various types of coke that are byproducts of refining oil. Some is almost pure carbon, which has value in many industries.

This is the type of coke that should not be exported, due to the high concentration of contaminants in it. They are essentially selling it to underdevloped countries to burn (contaminants and all) as fuel. Unfortunately for us, we all share the same atmosphere with these countries so it affects us.

Petroleum coke accounts for around 5 percent of all refinery output in the United States. The percentage has been fairly stable for the past 20 years, creeping slowly higher, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In 2012, U.S. refineries produced almost 850,000 barrels equivalent of pet coke every day, according to EIA. One metric tonne of petroleum coke is roughly 5.5 barrels.

Around 350,000 barrels per day was supplied to plants in the United States. Most of it is low-quality green coke, used in cement kilns, or mixed with coal and burned in power plants. Small quantities of high-quality needle coke are used to make anodes for electric arc furnaces used in steelmaking.

There are various types of coke that are byproducts of refining oil. Some is almost pure carbon, which has value in many industries.

This is the type of coke that should not be exported, due to the high concentration of contaminants in it. They are essentially selling it to underdevloped countries to burn (contaminants and all) as fuel. Unfortunately for us, we all share the same atmosphere with these countries so it affects us.

Yah, and it turns out this has nothign to do wiht the Koch brother, but is owned by some company in New Orleans.

Sorry to ruin the jump all overthe Koch brothers toaday.

Oh, BTW: Did you hear Soros made another bundle last week manipulating currencies?

Petroleum coke accounts for around 5 percent of all refinery output in the United States. The percentage has been fairly stable for the past 20 years, creeping slowly higher, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In 2012, U.S. refineries produced almost 850,000 barrels equivalent of pet coke every day, according to EIA. One metric tonne of petroleum coke is roughly 5.5 barrels.

Around 350,000 barrels per day was supplied to plants in the United States. Most of it is low-quality green coke, used in cement kilns, or mixed with coal and burned in power plants. Small quantities of high-quality needle coke are used to make anodes for electric arc furnaces used in steelmaking.

There are various types of coke that are byproducts of refining oil. Some is almost pure carbon, which has value in many industries.

This is the type of coke that should not be exported, due to the high concentration of contaminants in it. They are essentially selling it to underdevloped countries to burn (contaminants and all) as fuel. Unfortunately for us, we all share the same atmosphere with these countries so it affects us.

Liberals obviously prefer that poor countries stay poor.....they sacrifice the economic development of third world nations to their global warming 'cure'

Life expectancies are double in nations with reliable electricity grids that can sustain refrigeration for the bulk of their populations than in nations that can not. This seems to be the dividing line, and the global warming zealots are seeking to make it more difficult for third world nations to join the former group, and at the same time seeking to remove those already with that benefit from that position...

Now now. The Koch brothers are rich and have Rs next to their names. That means that unlike that evil Soros fellow who "manipulates currency" (himself unlike Romney, sage in his tax-avoidance practices), you darest not speak ill of anything they may do in the interest of creating jobs.

Is that a complete thought, or did two random thoughts collide within your brain?

Petroleum coke accounts for around 5 percent of all refinery output in the United States. The percentage has been fairly stable for the past 20 years, creeping slowly higher, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In 2012, U.S. refineries produced almost 850,000 barrels equivalent of pet coke every day, according to EIA. One metric tonne of petroleum coke is roughly 5.5 barrels.

Around 350,000 barrels per day was supplied to plants in the United States. Most of it is low-quality green coke, used in cement kilns, or mixed with coal and burned in power plants. Small quantities of high-quality needle coke are used to make anodes for electric arc furnaces used in steelmaking.

There are various types of coke that are byproducts of refining oil. Some is almost pure carbon, which has value in many industries.

This is the type of coke that should not be exported, due to the high concentration of contaminants in it. They are essentially selling it to underdevloped countries to burn (contaminants and all) as fuel. Unfortunately for us, we all share the same atmosphere with these countries so it affects us.

Let's export socialism to them instead. That has worked out so well for the 3rd world.

Can you think of a better use for a city destroyed by liberal policies?

Just about any other thing will do.

Your virulent fever dreams notwithstanding, of course.

So, liberals destroy Detroit, turning it into a 3rd world h3llhole, and the Koch brothers are somehow at fault.

liberal rationalization is just so ...precious.

Spoken like someone who knows absolutely nothing about Detroit OR '3rd-world h**lholes' for that matter.

But you're wrong again. Nobody said the Kochs are at fault for Detroit...

...though it remains to be seen if, like you, they're just kicking the city while it's down.

Else, keep talking like Detroiters are somehow beneath you or un-american or undeserving of your time or empathy. Your true colors are more apparent and abhorrent every day. You can't even come up with original insults.